Op-Ed: How to fix the Julie Hermann mess at Rutgers

View full sizeJulie Hermann addresses the media on May 15 as president Robert Barchi sits at her side during a press conference at the Rutgers University Visitor Center to introduce Hermann as the new athletic director to replace Tim Pernetti.Star-Ledger file photo

By COURTNEY WICKS
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL

I have been following the controversy surrounding Rutgers University's hiring of Athletic Director Julie Hermann. Being a former Division I student athlete, I know too well the negative impact bad decisions can have on the entire university community. The lack of clarity and the apparent mismanagement of the athletic director hiring process, given the recent allegations, raises many concerns.

Rutgers has to ask itself one fundamental question: Do we take care of our student athletes? If so, why was there such a lack of due diligence done on Julie Hermann's coaching career? College coaches have such an undeniable impact on the lives of their student athletes making any candidate with a coaching history the easiest to vet. Student athletes often describe their experience with coaches as powerful and life-defining. Julie Hermann may have had the athletic administrative experience, but is it ultimately her college coaching career that would validate her passion, advocacy, leadership, and commitment to student athletes.

Supporting Julie Hermann's hiring after these allegations without a formal investigation of the abuse claims and lawsuits is disconcerting. At the very least, her former athletes clearly had a bad experience. As a former Division I student athlete who played for a women's basketball coach who was eventually forced to resign after three decades of dishing out emotional and psychological abuse and discriminatory practices, it is unclear to me why these allegations do not warrant investigation.

It is not uncommon for a student athlete to express disappointment and at times unhappiness with a coach. There are a variety of reasons for this to occur. However, what causes me to pause is that 11 of the 16 players not only complained of abuse but also wrote and signed a letter addressed to the athletic director at the University of Tennessee. I am not sure if Rutgers leadership grasps how incredibly difficult it is for a student athlete to file a complaint against a coach, especially at a university that is arguably competing in one of the best conferences in the nation. The former players on the Tennessee women's volleyball team must have understood the gravity of their actions as it may have ended their student athlete careers at Tennessee.

Not taking the time to investigate these allegations and lawsuits suggests a flawed process. It also raises the following questions: Will Rutgers support student athletes when they complain about coaching abuses in the future? Can we expect Julie Hermann to know the difference between an abusive coaching environment and an intense coaching environment? Lastly, can we trust Julie Hermann to make the right call on hiring coaches given her own personal coaching experience?

The decision to hire Julie Hermann will cause many perspective student athletes and their families to think twice about Rutgers as an option. New Jersey has often been noted to be one of the most recruited states in the country, which is partly why moving into the Big Ten may help Rutgers to retain more talent. However, the recent disturbing events found at the Rutgers athletic department will make it very difficult for the Rutgers coaches to recruit the best and the brightest in the state and/or in the nation. It is possible that in the short run only coach Vivian Stringer's notable women's basketball program will be able to stem the tide of this negative publicity. The overall impact of decisions like this not only hits the athletic department but also the larger community and leads me to believe there is further confusion about how to run a first-class athletic department.

Lastly, I would politely suggest the president of Rutgers University restore the loss of confidence and do the right thing by removing Julie Hermann as athletic director and resigning. If students, including student athletes cannot trust that their leadership is serious about ensuring their academic, athletic, and personal development, then how can Rutgers expect to compete in the Big Ten? The Board of Overseers needs to act now.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Courtney Wicks is a former Penn State University and St. Peter's College women's' basketball player. She is a Hoboken resident.